Gin &
Bombay Tonic

The Gay Indian Network (GIN) is a welcome place for LGBTQ community with Indian connections, and their friends and allies.

Our aim is to create a friendly place where people can have free connections and conversations, and not necessarily confide in complex rules and boundaries. However, we also acknowledge we need to provide some guidance and structures of our values and principles, so people can feel safe and understood.

With this in mind, here are some codes of conduct for GIN participants. We would welcome feedbacks and please contact us should you wish to share any thoughts about these codes.

Rules Charter and Code of Conduct for GIN members and participants

The Gay Indian Network (GIN) was established in September 2018 with the key purpose of connecting the LGBTQ community of Indian Heritage and the wider diaspora with each other and with their friends & allies in London and in the United Kingdom.

The GIN makes use of social media (such as Facebook, twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, meet up etc) and social activities (well-being events, culture, entertainment and other events) to communicate and connect with people.

We are dedicated to provide a respectful, safe, harassment-free community for all and treat each other with consideration and respect at all times, across all media, and in all meetings and events.

We value equality and diversity and do not tolerate any direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in our GIN activities based on any protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

There is a zero tolerance policy to harassment of any kind. This includes sexual harassment, unwanted touching, stalking and all forms of abuse or discrimination.

We do not permit posting or displaying sexual or pornographic material on any of our social media groups including our Meetup or WhatsApp groups.

We do not permit political discussions on our WhatsApp groups but people may discuss any relevant matters in our meetings and events if they wish to do so.

Attending meetings and events

We encourage participants to RSVP for the events in advance and select number of people accompanying them for the event. This helps the organisers to prepare the events in the best way they can for the participants.

It is simply done by selecting ‘Yes, I will attend the event’, and by selecting how many extra people will be coming with you to the event, on the event meetup page.

If you have replied ‘Yes’ to an event and then you find that you cannot make it, please change your RSVP to ‘No’ in advance to let the organisers know.

Please note that if you RSVP ‘Yes’ but fail to turn up on three occasions without giving any notice, then you may be excluded from the group.

Taking Photographs

Photographs may be taken in our Meetup groups and events. Photographs help GIN members to connect with each other and help new members to understand about GIN activities. However, we also understand not everyone may wish to be photographed for any reason, and we respect their choice. Hence the following guidelines must be followed:

• People must be asked in advance for their permission.
• When taking the permission, people must be told in advance of where and to whom the photos will be sent to, for example, they must be told that their pics will be posted on GIN WhatsApp group and/or on our private Meetup group.
• If the pics are to be posted onto social media then you must get permission from the people in advance and you must let them know exactly which social media platforms their picture will be posted onto (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp).
• Please do not assume that if the person has agreed to be in the photo then they automatically agree to that photo being posted onto social media or to be sent to others. You must get their explicit agreement in each case.

The above code of conduct can also be found on meetup.